Russia launched more than 100 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, after the Kremlin rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in the more than 3-year war.
There was no response from the Kremlin, meanwhile, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s challenge for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet him for face-to-face peace talks in Turkey this week.
The United States and European governments have made a concerted push to stop the fighting, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides as well as more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians. Russia’s invading forces have taken around one-fifth of Ukraine.
In a flurry of diplomatic developments over the weekend, Russia shunned the ceasefire proposal tabled by the U.S. and European leaders but offered direct talks with Ukraine on Thursday.
Ukraine, along with European allies, had demanded Russia accept a ceasefire starting Monday before holding peace talks. Moscow effectively rejected that proposal and instead called for direct negotiations in Istanbul.
U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Ukraine accept the Russian offer. Zelenskyy went a step further and put the pressure on Putin by offering a personal meeting between the leaders.
In 2022, in the war’s early months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with the Russian president but was rebuffed, and eventually enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with Putin had become impossible.
Putin and Zelenskyy have only met once, in 2019. Trump says “deep hatred” between the sides has made it difficult to push peace efforts forward.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
